GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com

GoPublicSchool.com « An open discussion of public school issues. GoPublicSchool.com:

 LA school officials in the dark over computer inventories…

Annie Gilbertson at KPCC – Southern California Public Radio… “Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they don’t have a complete accounting of computers at schools because they stopped counting during budget cuts – and a new survey meant to get an accurate accounting is incomplete, according to records, statements at public meetings and interviews…” Read it. What do you think? Read and

by GPS / 1h 

Schools starve students to punish deadbeat parents…

Brandy Zadroznyat The Daily Beast… “Picture this. School-age children with rumbling tummies move their styrofoam trays in an orderly lunch line. It’s Tuesday, and at Uintah Elementary School in Salt Lake City that means one thing for excited youngsters: pizza day. Students fill their trays with deep-dish pepperoni slices and napa salad and head to the lunch lady for checkout. That’s when tragedy

by GPS / 1h 

Ed. Dept. allows public charter schools to hold weighted lottery…

Lyndsey Layton in The Washington Post… “The Education Department on Wednesday reversed a long-standing policy and will now allow public charter schools that receive federal grants to give ­admissions preference to low-income children, minorities and other disadvantaged students. The move is designed to try to preserve racial diversity in schools that are attractive to wealthier families. Schools w

by GPS / 1h 

A Push for French in New York Schools…

Kirk Semple in The New York Times… “In the fugue of tongues on New York’s streets, French has never been a dominant voice. And as surging numbers of Asian and Latino immigrants continue to tip the balance of foreign languages toward Chinese and Spanish, the idea of learning French, to some, may seem kind of quaint, even anachronistic. Yet in the city’s public school system, the French dual-languag

by GPS / 1h 

Boston – Three nonprofits to take over schools…

James Vaznis in The Boston Globe… “Massachusetts education officials who are poised to take over four schools in Boston, Holyoke, and New Bedford announced Wednesday that they have selected three nonprofits and a superintendent with records of boosting student achievement as receivers, under a first-of-a-kind experiment in the state. In Boston, the state is tapping two education nonprofits that al

by GPS / 1h 

Will Portland teachers vote to authorize a strike?

Nicole Dungca in The Oregonian… “Portland Association of Teachers leaders sent a message Wednesday night announcing a strike vote on Feb. 5. The walkout would be the first teachers strike in the history of Oregon’s largest district. Union leaders say members appear united. Those leaders referenced results from their “pre-strike assessment” last week, in which teachers at every school hold individu

by GPS / 1h 

Early Childhood Ed.: Lots of talk, not much action…

Laura Bornfreund and Conor Williams in The Atlantic… “Business leaders, law enforcement, retired military leaders, charitable foundations, and Nobel-winning economists—not to mention President Obama—support better preschool. Why hasn’t there been more progress?…” Read it. What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Early Childhood Ed.: Lots of talk, not much action… appeared first on

by GPS / 1h 

Suspensions, expulsions fall in California public schools…

Sharon Noguchi in the San Jose Mercury News… “Suspensions and expulsions in California public schools fell dramatically in 2012-13, the result of schools’ deliberate efforts to seek alternate discipline and reduce racial disparities in punishment…” Read it. What do you think? Read and share comments here… The post Suspensions, expulsions fall in California public schools… appeared first on GoPubli

by GPS / 1h 

empathyeducates – A Grandmother’s Plea For Justice – Education is a Human Right

empathyeducates – A Grandmother’s Plea For Justice – Education is a Human Right:

A Grandmother’s Plea For Justice – Education is a Human Right

Irene Robinson (left) waits with granddaughter Akilra Roberts for the bus. Because the bus only runs at the beginning and end of the regular school day, Akilra has trouble getting home from after-school activities. (Armando L. Sanchez / Hechinger Report) On education people preach. Everyone acknowledges that […]

by empathy / 4h hide  //  save

Senate Committee Passes Bill Giving Schools Boards a Say in School Closings

Photograph; Sen. Ron Rice is sponsoring a bill that would require local school boards to approve the closing of a public school. The bill was prompted by the Newark school reorganization plan. (File Photo) By Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger | Email the author | Follow on Twitter | […]

by empathy / 7h 

Charter School Network Launches New Teacher Recruitment Program

When is a teacher not a teacher? In 2014, this question is a just one. Ask yourself if you agree, a qualified teacher is a student in training, or might it be that “A year of taking classes two days a week while assuming full-time, school-based responsibilities […]

by empathy / 7h 

Does Being an Individual Matter Anymore? | educarenow

Does Being an Individual Matter Anymore? | educarenow:

Does Being an Individual Matter Anymore?

Posted on January 31, 2014 | Leave a comment

I’ve come to think of the Common Core (and the standards movement as a whole) in three different layers, with each deepening layer being more difficult to see and to articulate.  These layers are simplistic and certainly not all-inclusive, but they do allow me to at least symbolize different understandings of the CCSS.

Layer one:  The Common Core standards in isolation.

Deeper

Layer two:  The Common Core standards connected to political and economic considerations.

Deeper again

Layer three:  The Common Core as representative of a particular way of imagining what it means to be human.

Layer one is simply the standards themselves as they function within the classroom.  This is the level that teachers initially deal with and it is the way that the media all too often addresses the Common Core.  I have written multiple times, as have many others (and below), about the dangers inherent in looking at the Common Core in isolation from its broader implications.

At the layer two level, we begin to see that the Common Core has  the potential for doing great damage, particularly in its connections to high-stakes testing, 

An Urgent Need for Short-Cycle Clinical Trials in Education | Brookings Institution

An Urgent Need for Short-Cycle Clinical Trials in Education | Brookings Institution:

An Urgent Need for Short-Cycle Clinical Trials in Education

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• teachers
• teaching quality

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“If you said to me, are we making progress on [U.S. education reform] or not, I could talk for a long time, but I wouldn’t be able to give you a number.”  --Bill Gates with David Rubenstein, Sanders Theater, September 21, 2013

 In the three decades since the release of the Nation at Risk report, the U.S. education reform effort has failed to achieve lift-off.  Why is that so?  Regardless of the reform strategy—whether new standards, or accountability, or small schools, or parental choice, or teacher effectiveness—there is an underlying weakness in the U.S. education system which has hampered every effort up to now:   most consequential decisions are made by district and state leaders, yet these leaders lack the infrastructure to learn quickly what’s working and what’s not.  They launch new initiatives with no detailed analysis of their effects.  At best, they track aggregate measures such as overall proficiency and graduation rates, which can hide the consequences for the specific schools, or grades or subjects actually affected by their initiatives.   And, when there is turnover, new leaders are forced to re-invent the wheel, blind to the mistakes and successes of their predecessors.   For their part, philanthropists fund new initiatives in their local schools, and never know whether their funds have made a difference for children. 

We are not lacking innovation in U.S. education.  We lack the ability to learn from our innovations.

Over the last decade, the U.S. Department of Education has built a robust infrastructure for evaluating programs at the federal level.  The National Center for Education Evaluation has funded more than 34 large-scale impact evaluations since 2002.  These cost an average of $12 million and have taken 5.6 years to complete.  Such a system might be sufficient in 

NCLB co-author says he never anticipated federal law would force testing obsession | EdSource Today

NCLB co-author says he never anticipated federal law would force testing obsession | EdSource Today:

NCLB co-author says he never anticipated federal law would force testing obsession

January 30th, 2014 | 3 Comments |
By Kathryn Baron

Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, visited with EdSource Today staff shortly after announcing his retirement after 40 years in Congress. Credit: Lillian Mongeau, EdSource

Rep. George Miller, a leading architect of the No Child Left Behind legislation, says he never anticipated that the landmark education law would ignite the testing obsession that engulfed the nation’s schools, leading to what some have charged is a simplistic “drill and kill” approach that subverts real instruction.

EdSource sat down with Miller, D-Martinez, last week for a lengthy and wide-ranging conversation on his accomplishments, philosophy and hopes for the future of public education. The Contra Costa County congressman, who served as chair or ranking minority member of the House Education Committee and the Workforce Committee since 1997, announced earlier this month that after 40 years in the House of Representatives, he would not seek re-election when his current term expires.

In an animated discussion, Miller, 68, defended what has become one of the more controversialaspects of NCLB, testing and accountability. He said the purpose of the 2001 law that he co-wrote with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Republicans Rep. John Boehner of Ohio and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire was to inspire a broader discussion of how children learn and to hold states responsible for ensuring that all students were learning, especially those at risk of failing due to income, ethnicity, race and disability. To Miller, the most important part of the law – which was championed by then President George W. Bush – was to require districts to publish data on how well students were doing. 

“In this education system, if you’re not counted, you don’t count,” Miller said.

Testing was intended as a way to measure schools’ progress based on how well their students 

You’ve got to have faith to be a great teacher - by Ellie Herman / commentary

For the last four months, as part of a yearlong search to understand what great teaching looks like by visiting 11th grade English classrooms across Los Angeles, I’ve had a chance to observe great teachers in schools across the socioeconomic spectrum, from a very low-income community in Watts to an ... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit the Edsource Today website for full links, other conte

1 by Ellie Herman / co... / 6h 

17.6% INCREASE FOR LAUSD TEACHERS- WHAT IS UTLA PRESIDENT WARREN FLETCHER SMOKING? - Perdaily.com

17.6% INCREASE FOR LAUSD TEACHERS- WHAT IS UTLA PRESIDENT WARREN FLETCHER SMOKING? - Perdaily.com:

17.6% INCREASE FOR LAUSD TEACHERS- WHAT IS UTLA PRESIDENT WARREN FLETCHER SMOKING?

Letter from UTLA President Warren Fletcher and my response:


Dear UTLA member,

The following letter from UTLA President Warren Fletcher to LAUSD
Superintendent John Deasy was sent today:

1/29/2014

Dr. John Deasy
Superintendent, LAUSD
3303 S. Beaudry Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017

Dear Superintendent Deasy:

On January 15, the UTLA House of Representatives, by a near-unanimous
vote, directed me to communicate to you, and to the School Board, UTLA's
salary negotiations demand for immediate bargaining and for implementation
retroactive to the beginning of the 2013-14 school year.

UTLA's demand is for an increase in salary of 17.6%.

This demand reflects the undisputed fact that, since the beginning of the
recession, L.A.'s teachers and Health and Human Services professionals
have, again and again, voluntarily made deep financial sacrifices in order to
keep the District afloat. We have made these sacrifices even as workloads
have greatly increased, and while the cost of living has continued to
rise. Simple equity demands that these sacrifices be repaid.

This demand also reflects a new economic reality. In light of both the
passage of Proposition 30, and the steadily improving California economy, the
Governor and the Legislature have made it clear that it is their intent
to fully fund schools, and to repair the damage done to schools by the
recession, including a commitment to making teacher salaries competitive.

It would be a travesty if these statewide commitments to our schools and
our children were not translated to reality in Los Angeles, where the
children's needs are the greatest, and where the sacrifices by educators were
the deepest.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,


Warren Fletcher
President, United Teachers Los Angeles


cc: Members, LAUSD Board of Education

MY RESPONSE:

UTLA President Fletcher,

There is something completely reprehensible about a person who has sat by and taken no action- legal or otherwise- while over 17,000 teachers have been falsely charged and removed or forced into early retirement from their teaching jobs. To then ask for a 17.6% raise for those remaining is a pipe dream that is not only not borne out by any rational reading of the budget, but completely offensive in light of a UTLA union that these 17,000 assaulted teachers paid to be their "exclusive bargaining agent," that instead stood by and did absolutely nothing in their hour of need.  To first do nothing and then claim that UTLA doesn't have the money to litigate on these teachers' behalf is kafkaesque, when one realizes just how much litigation 17,000 teachers dues would have paid for if you Warren Fletcher hadn't sold them down the river. Shame on you!.

Why would Deasy or the LAUSD Board take you or any of the present UTLA leadership seriously in any negotiation, when they could not have succeeded in decimating UTLA represented LAUSD teachers during your watch as UTLA president without your complete incompetence or outright complicity.  And you now have the chutzpah to ask for another term as president of UTLA? In what world do you live? Surely, there are no teachers that live in that world.

"Educators support opportunity for all"

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel shares his thoughts on President Obama's fifth State of the Union address and Opportunity Agenda.

The Countdown to NEA’s Read Across America 2014 Has Begun!

By Anita Merina In Bakersfield, Calif., Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association president Michelle Johnson is planning a reading block party featuring storybook characters and book giveaways. In Sioux City, Iowa, NEA-Retired member Sue Wiele is dusting off her favorite Sam I Am costume. And in Louisiana, NEA Education Support Professional member Ruthie Wright is rounding up her merry cast of r

48 by twalker / 20h